The One That Remembers
by PaperKat
Summary: Some good deeds need to go unpunished and it’s going to take the whole gang to see that mistakes of the past are rectified. AU for rewriting the ancient past. Multipule pairings. Bashing free!
1. Chapter One: It Starts With A Card

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. This was written before I'd seen more than a handful of episodes or read any fan sites, so my history doesn't follow cannon.

Summary: Some good deeds need to go unpunished and it's going to take the whole gang to see it done. AU for rewriting the ancient past.

The One That Remembers

Chapter One: It Starts with a Card

Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction

By Kat Mayes

"Hey, Yuugi!" Tea called out the same moment the chimes above the shop door sounded at her entry.

Yuugi Mouto automatically looked away from the customer next to him to smile at his childhood friend. Tea almost comically skidded to a stop when she realized that Yuugi was not alone. She blushed slightly in embarrassment and mouthed a silent apology before disappearing into another aisle. Yuugi returned his attention to his customer trying to answer the woman's questions without being distracted, but Yuugi couldn't help but notice that Tea was rather impatiently gazing over the rack at him. The dancer hopped from foot to foot and kept pulling at the strap of her purse while she waited. Yuugi tried unsuccessfully to stop his grin at her antics.

/Something certainly has Tea excited/ Yami commented and Yuugi mentally nodded in agreement. His customer asked another question and Yuugi found himself trying to not only get his attention, but Yami's on the task at hand. In recent months it had been becoming increasingly harder to separate his thoughts from those of the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. Where once Yuugi and Yami could focus their full attention on two completely different things at the same time, now Yuugi couldn't always tell if he or Yami was thinking a particular thought, and right now Yami found it far more entertaining to watch Tea fidget than to help their customer.

Maybe it should have worried Yuugi more than it did that the line between himself and Yami was starting to blur, but he couldn't seem to muster up concern. After all it wasn't all bad. Yuugi felt more confident, more in control, and older somehow. Besides, didn't friends sometimes become so close that they could finish each others sentences? And you couldn't get much closer than sharing the same body, Yuugi thought with a grin. Yuugi led his customer to the register and had to stop himself from laughing out right at Tea's seeming rapt interest in the display closest to the counter.

The evil little imp inside of Yuugi that had more to do with Joey's influence than his supposed dark side, Yami, decided to strike up another conversation with his customer as she placed her change into her handbag. Yuugi could hear Yami chuckle inside his head when Tea groaned in frustration and gave them a little glare over the woman's shoulder. Yuugi ended the conversation with a smile and a wave to the customer, before turning to his friend.

"Hey, Tea. What's new?"

Yuugi had known Tea almost all his life and there was no one he knew better than her. Everything in her body language said that she was pissed, but Yuugi just kept on smiling sweetly and let Tea's own excitement work against her.

/And they say I'm the manipulative one/ Yami told his host, in an almost scolding tone. Yuugi ignored him as he watched Tea's feigned anger melt away. The pretty brunette blew the bangs from in front of her eyes and playfully stuck her tongue out at them.

"Sometimes I swear you're trying to get me mad at you," Tea huffed. Yuugi plastered an innocent questioning look on his face that didn't fool Tea at all. She lightly rapped her knuckles on Yuugi's forehead and grinningly called him an idiot.

"Did you want to tell me something?" Yuugi reminded his friend, and jumped back in fright when Tea almost literally exploded with excitement.

"I just found the perfect gift for Joey!" she exclaimed as she dug furiously into her purse. Several odd looking compacts were unceremoniously tossed onto the counter as Tea reached farther and farther into the deceptively small hand bag.

/Does it have a bottom/ Yami wondered rhetorically as Tea's arm seemed to disappear entirely. Yuugi was asking himself the same thing when suddenly Tea gave a triumphant cry and held aloft what was obviously a Duel Card in a hard protective sleeve.

There was a brief moment of hurt anger at seeing the card. Apparently Tea had gone somewhere else to get the card, but almost as soon as the negative emotion surface it dissipated. Whatever the card was Yuugi knew that if his Grandfather's shop had have had it Tea would have bought it there, but knowing that only made Yuugi more curious as to what card she held.

Yuugi waited patiently for Tea to either turn the card around or give it to him to end the mystery. With a graceful flip of her hand, Tea revealed a Red Eyes Metal Dragon.

"Do I have luck or do I have luck?" she said with a wink even as Yuugi snatched the card from her unresisting hand.

"Wow," Yuugi said quietly, amazed at Tea's good fortune at finding such a rare card, and one that would blow Joey away to have in his deck.

Was it real? The immediate skepticism put Yuugi on edge. He knew that there were people out there that made and sold counterfeit cards.

"Where did you get it?" Yuugi asked with none of the enthusiasm that Tea obviously thought he should have over her find.

"I bought if from a girl. She was selling her cards to afford an apartment in the city," Tea frowned, Yuugi's concern sparking some of her own. "Why? Do you think I paid too much for it?"

Yuugi noted the price on the sticker in the corner and his eyes widened. "You paid that much for a card for Joey's birthday?"

"Too much?" Tea asked with a wince.

"Not if it's a genuine Metal Red Eyes, but Tea you don't have that kind of money to spend on a single present."

The anxiety in Tea's face melted away and she waved off Yuugi's concern. "After the time Joey's had over the last two years he deserves a treat, besides I only paid half. I'm going to work off the rest."

Yuugi didn't feel reassured, this story wasn't sounding very legitimate. "Where did you meet this girl?" Yuugi asked as he pulled the card closer to examine it.

"At the train station," Tea responded absently as she started returning items back to her purse.

"Hmm…" Yuugi hummed thoughtfully.

/I'm sure it is alright Yuugi/ Yami said, appearing for only Yuugi to see beside Tea, looking as though he was trying to peer into Tea's handbag.

Yuugi frowned at Yami's words. When had he, the 'Light Side' become the untrusting one? Yami turned to look at Yuugi and gave him a smirk.

/It is less that I trust this girl, than I trust Tea's judgment. /

Yuugi had to agree with Yami on that one. Tea always seemed to just know instinctually when someone was worthy of her trust.

"But still…"

"What was that Yuugi?" Tea asked, frowning at her purse when one of her compacts refused to be stuffed inside.

"Oh, I was just wondering…." Yuugi motioned that he wanted to remove the card from its cover.

Tea looked up and gave a shrug. "Sure, it's not like Joey's going to leave it in the case anyway."

Yuugi carefully worked the card from the sleeve noting that it took more effort than it should have. He examined the card and the very first thing he noticed was that it was unusually thick. He looked at the edge and immediately saw why. There were two cards instead of one. Gripping the cards firming, he 'popped' them apart with a soft crack. He turned the Metal Red Eyes over and was relieved to see that not only did it have the appropriate holographic logo it also had not been damaged by being stuck to the other card for an unknown amount of time.

Yuugi smiled, glad that his friend had indeed not wasted her hard earned money on a fake card. The smile instantly fled from his face when he looked at the other card. A feeling of unease so great it made his heart constrict painfully in his chest settled over him. Yami must have felt it too, because he instantly came to his side and demanded Yuugi tell him what was wrong. Before he could either answer or examine the card completely it, along with the Metal Red Eyes, was yanked from his hand.

"Joey!" Tea squeaked shrilly. "What a surprise! What are you doing here, today… now?" Tea babbled as she quickly tried to shove the cards into her purse.

Joey Wheeler gave the still stunned Yuugi a questioning 'has-she-gone-completely-mental' look, but Yuugi could only blink back, his hands and arms still extended as if he still held the cards. Suddenly Joey's face broke into a devilish grin and he fixed it on Tea who was still trying to get her purse to close all the way.

"I know what you guys are up to," Joey said knowingly. "And I bet it has something to do with a certain someone's birthday," he said with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tea told him with an annoyed huff. Her over stuffed purse just simply refused to close. "You know perfectly well that Yuugi's birthday is months away."

"I'm not talkin' about him!" Joey yelled heatedly.

"Oh?" Tea's purse finally snapped shut with a click and she turned to her blustery blonde friend with a smug grin. "Then who are we talking about?"

Joey looked like he was going to bust a fuse when he noticed Tea clutching her purse protectively behind her back. "What's in the purse, Tea?" He asked through a wolfish grin full of teeth.

"Purse stuff."

"What kind of purse stuff?"

"Oh, you know, girly purse stuff. You wouldn't be interested."

"Oh, I wouldn't would I?"

"Not unless there's something you haven't been telling us Joey."

The two friends continued to banter on in the background, but Yuugi paid them little attention. His fingers almost seemed to burn where he had been touching that other card.

/Yuugi, tell me what is wrong/ Yami demanded again, but much calmer than he had before.

/That card…/ The brief glance Yuugi had had of it flashed through his mind and the teenager knew that Yami had seen it too. A woman knelling with her arms bound behind her back in gold chains and long flame colored hair covering her face from view. /That card, felt different. /

/How so/ Yami asked tightly, moving his spiritual form closer to Yuugi as the young man struggled to put into words what he had felt.

/It felt… alive. Like it had a heartbeat, a soul…/ Yuugi trail off, as that same overwhelming unease settled over him again. /It was in pain. /

Both Yuugi and Yami looked over to where Tea was holding her purse just out of Joey's grasping reach. Her left palm was pushing against the blonde's forehead as his arms pin wheeled wildly. The two of them were oblivious to the tension that Yuugi now keenly felt.

/Then perhaps it would be wise to ask Tea more about this girl she met./

Yuugi agreed, but they wouldn't do anything right now. There was no need to upset his friend until he knew more about what was going on. Yuugi's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he would have been shocked to see how much like his alter ego he looked in that moment. If someone was using his friends, once again, for their own gain he would make sure that they regretted it.

End chapter one


	2. Chapter Two: The Bound Maiden

Summary: Some good deeds need to go unpunished and it's going to take the whole gang to see it done. AU for rewriting the ancient past.

Warning: I have never played Yu-Gi-Oh! I did, however, buy several decks and read through the rule book. The duel depicted in this chapter is based off of how I interpreted the rules and what I've seen of 'duels' on the show. Please don't flame me for not activating cards correctly or using the stuff in the wrong sequence.

Note: Khet the Bound Maiden is NOT a real card! I've made it up for this story. At the end of this chapter, I've written what I'd imagine would be written on the card.

The One That Remembers

Chapter Two: The Bound Maiden

Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction

By Kat Mayes

Tea couldn't believe the situation she had gotten herself into. All she had wanted to do was invite Mokuba to Joey's birthday party and maybe even Kaiba, if he hadn't been such a big jerk! The younger Kaiba brother was a good friend, not only to herself but to the whole group and she knew that Joey would love to have him at the party. Tea's beautiful face twisted into a snarl, but the great Seto Kaiba didn't want his little brother associating with quote: 'losers and muts'.

"Please, Tea. You don't have to do this," Mokuba begged. Tea looked over at her young friend with his big blue eyes and it steeled her resolve. If Mokuba wanted to go to Joey's party then she was going to make sure that his stuck up brother let him. Squaring her shoulders, Tea looked back at her hand.

"Anytime today would be good, Gardner," Kaiba mocked from behind the writhing heads of his three Blue Eyes White Dragons. Tea glared at his smirking face, her teeth grinding together.

There was no one on the planet that had the power to piss her off like Seto Kaiba. Oh sure, Joey and Tristan could get her going sometimes, but Kaiba was the only person Tea wished she could hate. The truth was that she respected him and his accomplishments, and she would never admit it to him but she admired him. She just didn't LIKE him most of the time. The bottom line with Kaiba had always been: if you weren't Mokuba you meant nothing. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Tea assested her situation.

There was nothing between her life points and Kaiba's beloved dragons except her Mystic Elf and Spirit of the Harp. Kaiba could have ended this duel many times over. Her monsters were no match for his, but he had sat there smirking and waiting and she had a sinking suspicion she knew what he was waiting for. If there was one creature the conceited CEO loved more than his Blue Eyes it was his Ultimate Blue Eyes. Tea was sure that the only reason she still had over half of her life points was because Kaiba wanted to end the duel with that particular monster.

Tea looked at her cards, desperately looking for a way to save herself. She knew her deck was inferior to that of her friends. Even Tristan, that dueled almost as infrequently as she did, put more effort into making an effective deck instead of going by what cards 'looked good'. Tea didn't even know why she bothered carrying a deck at all except that ever since Yami had come into their lives, one never knew when one would be challenged.

/Case in point/ Tea thought, but if she were to be honest with herself SHE had been the one to chalange Kaiba to this particular duel. /For Mokuba sake/ she tried to justify, but she knew that there was some small part of her that wanted to beat Seto Kaiba for her own reasons.

Tea shook herself and concentrated on the duel at hand. She had a Waboku trap card on the field, that would protect her for at least one turn, but after that, even if Kaiba didn't wait for his Ultimate Blue Eyes, all he had to do was attack with all three Blue Eyes and she's be done. She looked at her other face down trap card and grimaced. Even if she used her Energy Drain on one of her monsters the 800 attack and defense boost wouldn't be enough to destroy his Blue Eyes or save her own monster.

There was nothing in her hand that could help her, except maybe one, Card Destruction. Maybe she'd draw something that would be more useful than what she currently had. Tea pulled the card from her hand and placed it in the appropriate receptical on the duel board in front of her.

"I play Card Destruction," she announce needlessly as a display of the card showed on the playing field between them.

"What's the matter, Gardner? Sucky hand?" Kaiba asked grinning as he placed his hand into his graveyard and pulled four more cards.

Tea steadfastly ignored the annoying multi-millionaire and pulled her cards. The first was a Kuriboh, not great, but still a monster to defend with against the third Blue Eyes. The second was a 'Dian Keto The Cure Master'. At least she could get a 1000 life points back under her belt with that card. Tea pulled her last card and stared at it in confusion.

/When did I get that card/

The title at the top of the card was 'Khet the Bound Maiden' and Tea could see that it was a Fire monster by the symbol in the corner. Right under the Fire symbol were seven stars and Tea's eyes widened. She passed over the picture and skipped straight to the text. In brackets it said Fairy Warrior/Effect, below that was a long description of the creature's effects.

"You know Gardner, if your plan is to bore me to death, I think it's only fair to warn you I sit through three hour business meetings almost daily." Tea lifted her eyes just enough to give Kaiba a smirk, one that he should recognize as it was his own.

/If I'm reading this right this card should be able to take Kaiba's Blue Eyes out of the equation, and if he tries to attack…/ Tea grinned evilly, as she checked her calculations one more time. This move would cost her a chunk of life points, but it was probably her only option and with her Dian Keto it wouldn't hurt too much.

"First I play Dian Keto the Cure Master," Tea said as she slid the card into its slot. The Bound Maiden was in her fingers when Kaiba chuckled.

"Let's not drag this out any farther than we need to. I discard Spirit Ryu and activate Magic Jammer."

Tea cringed. She had forgotten about Kaiba's face down card. Now it was going to cost her most of her life points to summon The Bound Maiden, but it was still her only option. With determination, Tea placed her card horizontally on the card deck.

"I sacrifice my Mystic Elf and Spirit of the Harp to summon Khet the Bound Maiden in defense mode."

As soon as she said the words, the images of her two monsters on the field digitally broke apart. But instead of her summoned monster immediately showing on the field, all the lights in the room dimmed and flickered as an image slowly resolved itself onto the playing field.

"What the hell did you do Gardner!" Kaiba demanded.

"I didn't do anything Kaiba," Tea snapped back. "Maybe you forgot to pay your electric bill."

When the lights steadied again Tea's monster was completely visible on the field. On Tea's side kneeled a red haired woman, bound with chains of gold. Her long white amorphous dress was smudged, tattered and torn in a multitude of places

"What is that?" Kaiba asked pointing to the new monster.

"That, Kaiba, is the monster that going to keep your dragons busy while I kick your butt. Watch this."

Just as Tea's life counter rolled down from 2500 to 1000 The Bound Maiden rose to a standing position. The chains that had previously bound her unwound from her arms and instantly shot out towards Kaiba's dragons. There was a flash of bright white light and when it cleared the Maiden stood strong with two dragons chained to her in her left hand and the other Blue Eyes to her right hand. Even the chains themselves had changed to heavier, thicker links inlayed with lapis. Now the Maiden's head was up and her pale lavender eyes were fixed on the dragons chained to her.

"What kind of trick is this?" Kaiba demanded hotly, his deep blue eyes glaring across the distance.

"It's not a trick Kaiba. At the cost of 500 Life Points per monster on the field Khet the Bound Maiden binds herself to all monsters on the field when she's summoned making it impossible for them to attack anything but each other. And since both of the monsters I used to summon her were creatures of light, she not only gets both their attack and defense point as her own, but an added 800 attack points. She might not be able to take out your Blue Eyes with 2400 attack points, but with 4000 defense points your dragons can't hurt her either. Not that you'd want to do that."

"What do you mean, Gardner?"

"You are so full of questions today, aren't you Kaiba?" At Kaiba's cold look Tea continued. "The Bound Maiden has one other special skill. You see, she shares her fate with all the monsters bound to her. If she goes to the graveyard or back to my hand or is taken out of the game entirely she takes them with her. So if I were you, I'd leave her alone. And before I end my turn I summon Kuriboh in defense."

Tea now had no more cards in her hand so she leaned forward, elbows on the card deck, and her fingers laced under her chin. "Your turn." She told him sweetly with a smile.

It did Tea's ego good to hear the great Seto Kaiba growl angrily at her. She didn't have a good monster to attack with, but she had stopped him in his tracks, now she had a chance to try and build up an offensive. Of course it would have been smarter to have used her Energy Drain and taken out one of Kaiba's dragons so that he couldn't summon his Ultimate Blue Eyes, but she could always do that next turn.

Suddenly Tea noticed that Kaiba was standing frozen in his spot. Her first reaction was of concern, nothing unsettled Seto Kaiba, nothing minor anyway. She looked between him and the focus of his attention, The Bound Maiden.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her, and it wasn't like her last move really did any damage to Kaiba, so why did he look like she'd just killed his cat in front of him. Tea looked over to Mokuba and they exchanged puzzled frowns. He couldn't possibly be THAT upset that she had trapped his favorite monsters, could he?

"Seto?" Mokuba called softly from his position on the sideline. Kaiba seemed to shake himself free from whatever had taken his attention a moment ago and quickly drew a card. He barely looked at it before slapping it down on the card deck.

"I summon Dark Blade in attack mode and take out your fuzz ball," Kaiba said stiffly and without emotion. The Kuriboh on the field gave a little squeal before Dark Blade's sword literally popped it into a zillion digital fragments. Dark Blade was barely back to Kaiba's side of the board before he placed a card in a slot.

"I also play Swords of Revealing Light and end my turn."

Whatever had happened to Kaiba a moment had changed his whole attitude from superior to serious. Kaiba wasn't playing anymore games and Tea had no doubt that if he had the ability to call the Ultimate Blue Eyes he would do it in an instant.

/But now he has three whole turns to try thanks to Swords of Revealing Light. What am I going to do/

Tea drew her card and was surprised to see Pot of Greed. She immediately played it, there was no reaction from Kaiba. Swallowing hard, Tea gave a little duelers prayer and pulled two cards, Shift and Petit Angel.

/What am I going to do with these/

Deciding it was better to at least try, Tea set her trap card and her Petit Angel face down on the card deck and ended her turn. She chewed nervously on her thumbnail as Kaiba drew his card. He remained emotionless as he placed it in a slot on his side of the field.

"I discard Kiryu to activate Tribute to the Doom and destroy your face down monster."

/No! If my Angel is gone I'm wide open for attack! I can use my Waboku, to stay alive but…/ Just then Tea remembered the trap card she had just placed on the field. /Of course/ A sarcophagus had just appeared behind her Petit Angel when Tea flipped her Shift card.

"I don't think so Kaiba. I Shift your spell from my Petit Angel to the Bound Maiden. Say good-bye to your dragons Kaiba."

The sarcophagus disappeared and then reappeared behind the Bound Maiden. Tea felt excitement building. Kaiba had provided her an escape. Not only would she keep her Angel and her Waboku, but his dragons were going to be gone and no dragons meant no Ultimate Dragon and a chance for her to survive this duel. The sarcophagus opened and just as mummy wrappings ensnared her monster everything stopped.

"This duel is over." Kaiba announced.

Tea looked up at Kaiba, but the other duelist was already halfway out the sliding doors, his trench coat barely cleared the door before it closed. She stood there stunned as Mokuba threw himself at her waist.

"I can't believe you won! Wow, you must have really pissed Seto off to get him to concede like that! That was an awesome duel, I wish Big Brother had have stayed in it to the end. Man, it was getting good!"

Tea only nodded as Mokuba continued to rattle on about the duel and replayed verbally each of his favorite moves as he walked towards the door. Tea only pulled her eyes from the closed doors when she saw all the monsters on the field shimmer and disappear, that is, all of them except for the Bound Maiden. Once the dragons were gone the Maiden fell backward, her chains now empty and laying on the ground.

Tea stepped as far forward as she could and watched trancelike as the Maiden came to her knees and looked down at her hands. Tea felt her throat constrict when the creature looked up at her with such pain and pleading in her lavender eyes. The Maiden reached out her hands and called out a single word 'Anzu'. Then suddenly the chains that had once been lax sprang to life and forced their owner's arms behind her back. The girl screamed more in denial than in pain as her form was reduced to a sphere of light.

Tea stepped back as the orb came towards her and then settled on the card in front of her. Tea had not noticed it during the duel but her Khet the Bound Maiden had been completely devoid of an image, but once the sphere of light landed on its surface a depiction of a knelling, flame haired, bound girl appeared.

The world seemed to swirl and blur around Tea until she no longer saw the cold steel walls of Kaiba's dueling chamber. Instead she was in a small stone room lit by a single lamp in the corner. On the floor was a woman crying over the limp form of the Bound Maiden. The Maiden's eyes were open, empty and lifeless. The woman kept calling to the girl in her arms, rocking her incessantly and Tea suddenly realized that the girl's name really was Khet.

"What have you done?" the woman sobbed quietly, and Tea felt sick, she knew that voice all too well. The woman looked up and Tea found herself looking into an older version of her own face. "What have you done!" she screamed as she held the lifeless body to her.

Tea took a step back, away from her doppelganger, but realized that she wasn't looking at her. Tea turned and could just barely make out a figure in the shadowed corner of the room.

"By Ra, what have you done?" the older woman whispered in horror, but her gaze was no longer on the other figure, but on a huge stone slab in front of her. Tea could help but look and instantly recognized what she was seeing. It looked exactly like her card only carved into stone.

"Tea? You coming?"

Mokuba's voice broke through the trance, and in a single blink, Tea was back in the Dueling Chamber. Lightheaded and trembling, Tea gathered her cards from the Card Deck and hesitated only briefly before picking up her Maiden card. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary about the card, other than the overwhelming sadness she felt looking at the bound girl.

End Chapter Two

Khet the Bound Maiden Fire

Fairy Warrior/Effect

The card can only be summoned if summoner's life points are less than opponents. ATK and DEF point are the sum of the two monsters used as tribute. Add an additional 400 ATK points for every Light monster used as tribute. Only at time of summoning, at the cost of 500 Life Points per monster (not optional), Bound Maiden binds all monsters on the field to her. All bound monsters can only attack or defend against Bound Maiden and Bound Maiden can only attack or defend against monsters bound to her. All monsters bound will follow Bound Maiden if Bound Maiden is sent to the Graveyard, returned to summoner's hand or removed from play.

ATK / X DEF / X


End file.
